Another school shooting happened last week, but this one took a back seat to what happened in Illinois. This one was personal.

Source: LA Times

An Oxnard junior high student who was shot in the head by a classmate earlier this week was declared brain dead Wednesday, and the 14-year-old male suspect now faces a first-degree murder charge, authorities said. Lawrence King, 15, was declared brain dead by two neurosurgeons about 2 p.m. at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. King’s body remains on a ventilator for possible organ donation. He was shot early Tuesday in a classroom at E.O. Green Junior High School.

Lawrence King

Police said the suspect, whose identity was not disclosed because of his age, shot King at least twice at the beginning of the school day and then fled the campus. The boy was apprehended by police a few blocks away and is being held in Juvenile Hall.

Police have not determined a motive in the slaying but said it appeared to stem from a personal dispute between King and the suspect. Several students said King and his assailant had a falling out stemming from King’s sexual orientation. The teenager sometimes wore feminine clothing and makeup, and proclaimed he was gay, students said. “He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails — the whole thing,” said Michael Sweeney, 13, an eighth-grader. “That was freaking the guys out.” If the suspect targeted King because of his sexual orientation, the case could rise to the level of a hate crime, authorities said.

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